This invention relates generally to the field of mail processing, and more specifically to the field of processing and directing mail between machines.
Mail processing systems must accurately and quickly process large amounts of mail. The performance and cost of conventional mail processing are hindered by the need for many operators and the time required to manually move mail between machines.
Conventional mail systems process stamped mail through a plurality of separate machines including an advanced facer-canceler system/input subsystem (AFCS/ISS), an optical character reader (OCR) machine, and a delivery bar code sorter/output subsystem (DBCS/OSS). AFCS/ISS places incoming mail into a single file line in a pinch belt, checks for appropriate postage on mail, cancels the postage, and places the mail in stackers. AFCS/ISS positions the mail upright between a pair of pinch belts with either the stamp leading and the address on the front side or the stamp trailing and the address on the back side. AFCS/ISS obtains a picture image of each piece of mail and prints a mail identifier on each mail piece that is stored along with the image. The image is used to determine mail type such as printed address and script address. After canceling the postage, AFCS/ISS sorts the mail into one or more bins based on mail type. Each mail type has two bins, one for mail with the stamp leading and one for mail with the stamp trailing.
The machines that next process the mail, such as DBCS/OSS, require that all the mail be positioned with the stamp leading. An operator takes the stamp trailing mail from one bin and places it in a stamp leading position to combine with the mail in the stamp leading bin. Based on the mail type, the operator then moves the mail to the next processing point. Pre-bar coded mail is taken directly to the DBCS/OSS. Bar codes on the mail indicate the destination of the mail piece. Printed and scripted mail is taken to the OCR to have the mail processed to determine what bar code label is appropriate for a given piece of mail. OCR prints a bar code onto the mail. Bar-coded mail is then taken to a DBCS/OSS for further processing.
DBCS/OSS sorts the mail into a plurality of stackers based on the bar code data which reflects the mail destination.
The present invention reduces the number of processing operators required and speeds the processing of the mail.